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Dottoré!

A Deaf Child's Struggle, A Taste For Simple Things

"It’s just that all the hardships he has faced have made him more appreciative of the simple things — he’s happier than us."

A Deaf Child's Struggle, A Taste For Simple Things
Mariateresa Fichele

When Pasquale was told that his newborn son was deaf, his world fell apart.

He held that long-awaited and longed-for baby in his arms and cried, not even daring to look him in the eye.

He could not feel joy, but only anxiety at the thought of how difficult life was going to be for his child.

Why couldn't Niccolò be like everyone else? How was Pasquale going to instill confidence and courage in his boy if he himself, the father, could only see a future fraught with trouble and obstacles?

Pasquale and I spent a lot of time talking about his son: the considerable difficulties of the early years, but also those small but monumental achievements, the cochlear implant, rehabilitation, school.

Then the other day, Pasquale tells me that Niccolò had danced a few steps to the rhythm of music.

"I am so proud of my son."

"Yes, Pasquale, Niccolò is quite an extraordinary child."

"No Dottoré. My son is not extraordinary. It’s just that all the hardships he has faced have made him more appreciative of the simple things — he’s happier than us.

He is like men in primitive times. They would wake up in the morning, already knowing they would have to struggle to eat and survive. But if in the evening they had found themselves at home with a steak served on a plate with forks, they would have thrown it all out, except for the meat. Yes, you can be sure that they would have kept the meat and eaten it — but they would have used their hands, Dottoré, and enjoyed it much more than we ever could."


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Migrant Lives

What's Driving More Venezuelans To Migrate To The U.S.

With dimmed hopes of a transition from the economic crisis and repressive regime of Nicolas Maduro, many Venezuelans increasingly see the United States, rather than Latin America, as the place to rebuild a life..

Photo of a family of Migrants from Venezuela crossing the Rio Grande between Mexico and the U.S. to surrender to the border patrol with the intention of requesting humanitarian asylum​

Migrants from Venezuela crossed the Rio Grande between Mexico and the U.S. to surrender to the border patrol with the intention of requesting humanitarian asylum.

Julio Borges

-Analysis-

Migration has too many elements to count. Beyond the matter of leaving your homeland, the process creates a gaping emptiness inside the migrant — and outside, in their lives. If forced upon someone, it can cause psychological and anthropological harm, as it involves the destruction of roots. That's in fact the case of millions of Venezuelans who have left their country without plans for the future or pleasurable intentions.

Their experience is comparable to paddling desperately in shark-infested waters. As many Mexicans will concur, it is one thing to take a plane, and another to pay a coyote to smuggle you to some place 'safe.'

Venezuela's mass emigration of recent years has evolved in time. Initially, it was the middle and upper classes and especially their youth, migrating to escape the socialist regime's socio-political and economic policies. Evidently, they sought countries with better work, study and business opportunities like the United States, Panama or Spain. The process intensified after 2017 when the regime's erosion of democratic structures and unrelenting economic vandalism were harming all Venezuelans.

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